Patrick wrote:
Just recently I bought Chessmaster 9000, because I heard that it has
a "chess academy" that's about as good as CM 10th. Indeed, I've
been enjoying working my way through the chess problems. I'm also
impressed with the way I can play a game, then have CM analyze it,
and go back through, reading the annotations. (Fritz can do that
too, I guess, but the one time I tried it, it took forever to finish
the analysis--I ran it overnight--and then the annotations didn't
seem very helpful anyway.)

You can adjust the amount of time Fritz will take for its analysis
but...


I loaded a "famous game" from the CM library and read through it,
but the annotations are so sparse that I didn't learn much from it.
I guess I should try having CM analyze the game first, after which
there should be annotations for more of the moves.

.... you won't learn chess by using computers to annotate master games.
Computer analysis is only really useful for spotting tactical errors:
this makes them great for analyzing your own games but poor for
analyzing master games, where there are very few tactical mistakes.

If you want to learn from master games (which is an excellent way to
learn), well-annotated books are the way forward. You can always use
the computer instead of a board! It's hard to tell what level you're
at from your post (almost everyone is a novice compared to Chessmaster
and Fritz!) but Dan Heisman's latest article at chesscafe.com should
give you some suggestions as to books that would suit you.

http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman68.pdf

(No, I have no clue why their archives are in pdf.) You want the
section `Read as many master collections as possible' but the other
sections (and the rest of his archive) will also be of interest.


Another big question right now is time controls. In tournament mode
(for rated games), it doesn't seem possible to have separate time
controls. I don't want to sit and wait a long time for the computer
to make its move, but I don't want to be under time pressure myself
either (I blunder enough without having to worry about that).

In Fritz, you can get asymmetric time controls for blitz games. Now,
blitz games are usually fast but you can tell Fritz that you want to
play a ten-hour `blitz' game if you want: really, it just uses the
term to mean a game with only one time control. So, File | New |
Blitz game... and then give yourself a `human bonus'. Playing in
blitz mode will have the engine at full strength but remember that
Friend mode, Sparring mode and Handicap mode will use the clock
settings of the previous game. So, start a blitz game and then
immediately start a Friend/Sparring/Handicap game.

Personally, I like playing with equal time controls -- usually G45.
I find that I think in different ways while it's my turn and my
opponents. On my turn, I think mainly about moves; on my opponent's
turn, I think mainly about plans.


Anyhow, I hate letting all this hardware and software go to waste.
Years ago, when CM3000 was new, I bought a book called "Mastering
the Chessmaster"--a user guide that told how to make the most of the
software. I could use something like that for today's Chessmaster
(or Fritz).

Oh, just read the Fritz manual! (I'm sorry. I have to make sick
jokes from time to time. (-: )


Dave.

--
David Richerby Hilarious Salted Projector (TM):
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ it's like a 16mm film projector but
it's covered in salt and a bundle
of laughs!